Case study · Anonymized med-spa real deal
One anonymized med-spa deal, end to end.
A 3-year aesthetic practice carrying a $180k stacked MCA position — three bridge advances across 24 months, composite-remit on one processor — and an aging 2019 diode laser past the commercial-depreciation midpoint. The MedGuild structure proposed: a $155k consolidated term facility at 17% over 30 months for the stack, paired with an $85k RF / microneedling upgrade at the equipment specialty band. The term-sheet economics (~$5,640/mo amortized vs. ~$9,150/mo ACH drained today), and the 38 days from intake to close. Submit the intake on /apply with the case-study routing prefilled and the desk reads the deal shape upfront. For a first-time practice file, see how a startup deal was structured.
01 · Owner profile
The owner's situation.
A 3-year full-service med-spa practice — the owner-operator runs the chair, a second provider runs injectables part-time, and a third on the body-contouring side two days a week. The clinic carries 90 active memberships, a quarterly card volume of roughly $140k average, and the seasonal swing the desk already self-qualifies against: Q1 membership peak, August trough, package-paydown cadence. Three years old, the practice is past the build-out phase but still carrying start-up debt.
Profile
3-year full-service med-spa
Owner-operator + 2 part-time providers across injectables, body contouring, and one laser modality.
Memberships
~90 active · ~$140k/q run rate
Q1 peak ~$180k/quarter · August trough ~$95k/quarter · package-paydown cadence on the membership side.
Stacked MCA
$180k principal, 24 months in
Three bridge advances rolled one on top of another — composite-remit file on a single processor.
Device
2019 diode laser, past midpoint
Past commercial-depreciation midpoint, sinking revenue per session, frequent service tickets — set up for the next cycle.
Region — mid-size city, Midwest US. The clinic name and the owner's name are anonymized for the case-study read same as every quote on /testimonials.
02 · Cash drain
Three daily ACH pulls off one processor.
The three bridge advances each carry a factor rate (1.28 / 1.32 / 1.40) and remitt against the same merchant processor statement. The stack formed over 24 months — first Position A (smaller, older, partially paid-down), then Position B pulled against the open A UCC-1 with a stacking-risk notice printed on intake, then Position C at the worst factor when Position B started missing ACH on a slow Friday. The aggregate drain is the desk's first-pass math; the breakdown is below.
Stacked today
Advance
Factor
Payoff
Term shape
ACH cadence
Position A
$50,000
1.28
$64,000
8-month daily ACH (rolling)
~$2,650/wk
Position B
$55,000
1.32
$72,600
12-month weekday ACH
~$2,750/wk
Position C
$75,000
1.40
$105,000
10-month weekday ACH
~$3,750/wk
Stacked total
$180,000
—
$241,600
~34% all-in cost
~$9,150/mo
Three ACH pulls, one processor
Composite-remit on the merchant-processor statement. Position A is senior by UCC filing date; B / C are junior on the same lockbox; a slow Friday's ACH miss triggers Position B's default clause.
~$9,150/mo across the stack
Aggregate weekday ACH pulled from card receipts. The desk sizes the consolidating facility against the same card volume $140k/q run-rate the file already carries.
~$240k all-in lifetime cost
If the stack ran its full course — Position A paid off, B rolled into C, C paid off — at the existing compounding factor rates, lifetime cost lands at ~$240k on $180k in stacked principal.
03 · Structure
Two parallel tickets, one coordinated file.
The desk doesn't read this file as one ticket. The stack is a /debt-refinancing problem — the stacked positions have to pay off in a single day, which means a single consolidating facility wide enough to take them all out at once. The 2019 diode is past midpoint and sinking revenue per session, so the renewal path is /equipment-upgrade: an RF / microneedling platform with install + on-site training folded into principal, term-sized to the device's commercial-depreciation window. Both tickets run on the same file; the desk reads one intake, two coordinated closings.
Ticket 01 · Refi
$155k consolidated term facility
Pays off Position A / B / C in a single wire batch on the close date. Single new UCC-1 takes priority; the stack's existing UCCs are terminated-on-funding and discharged within ten business days. Single monthly ACH against the merchant processor replaces the composite-remit contention.
Pairs with /merchant-cash-advance on the desk's three-product roster.
Ticket 02 · Equipment
$85k RF / microneedling upgrade
An RF platform with a microneedling hand-piece added — soft costs (install + on-site training + first-year service contract) folded into the financed amount, sized to the device class, term aligned to the commercial-depreciation window on the new asset. Trade-in credit on the 2019 diode offsets a piece of the principal.
Pairs with /equipment-financing on the desk's three-product roster.
Three desks, one file — the refi ticket sits with the debt-refinancing desk at the term-consolidation tier; the equipment ticket sits with the equipment-financing desk at the specialty band. A parallel ticket /merchant-cash-advance clean-out was considered and declined — the clean-out ticket would have stacked on top of Position C and the file would still be composite-remit. The consolidated term facility is the right shape for this stack.
04 · Term-sheet economics
Stacked vs. consolidated, side by side.
The same file — same owner, same processor, same card volume. The “stacked today” column is the trajectory the practice is on if nothing changes (~$9,150/mo ACH drained, ~$240k all-in lifetime cost on $180k in stacked principal). The “consolidated” column is the new structure the desk sized on intake (~$5,640/mo amortized payment, composite-remit replaced by a single ACH on a single UCC). The savings of ~$3,510/mo and ~$105k lifetime lands on a 30-month stacked trajectory window — the time horizon the same file takes to clear the stack or run it out.
Side-by-side math — ~30% savings, one remittance
~$5,640/mo consolidated · ~$105k lifetime savings
The stacked read keeps the composite-remit contention on the merchant processor; the consolidated read gives a single amortizing term facility on the stack plus a single specialty-band ticket on the equipment upgrade. Same card volume the file already carries, one remittance, one UCC. The full math the desk reads on intake is the five-row comparison below.
Metric
Detail
Stacked (today)
Consolidated
Monthly payment
Daily / weekday ACH against three positions, then a single monthly ACH on a single UCC
~$9,150/mo
~$5,640/mo
Remittance
Three ACH pulls against one processor statement
3 pulls · composite
1 pull · single UCC
Stacking-risk notice
Printed on every MCA intake once a second position files against an open UCC
On the file
Cleared at close
On the same card volume
Trailing ~$140k/quarter receipts · Q1 peak · August trough
$140,000/q
$140,000/q
Lifetime cost on a 30-month window
~$9,150/mo × 30 mo vs. ~$5,640/mo × 30 mo — same owner, same processor
~$274,500
~$169,200
Net savings — ~$3,510/mo on the file (~$9,150/mo drained today vs. ~$5,640/mo amortized), ~$105,000 lifetime on a 30-month stacked trajectory — the time horizon the same file takes to either clear the stack or run it out at the existing compounding factor rates.
Numbers above are illustrative. A real refi file uses the owner's actual merchant-processor statement, the actual payoff letters from each existing position, and a card-volume read against the trailing six months — not a generalized 1.30-factor or an “17% APR” rate quote. The desk reads the file on intake and routes to the right consolidating facility — term loan, SBA 504, or converted-term MCA — on a single coordinated ticket.
05 · Time to fund
38 days from intake to close.
Faster than an SBA 504 file (~6 – 12 weeks), slower than a single MCA ticket (7 – 14 days). The five steps below are what the desk reads on every stacking file that closes alongside a parallel equipment ticket. Day 38 lands between a stand-alone refi and a stand-alone new-device file — the time the two-ticket coordination actually costs when both tickets close on the same coordinated file.
Intake file + payoff letters requested
Submitted via /apply with the case-study routing prefilled. The desk reads three positions on the file (factor 1.28 / 1.32 / 1.40 across three MCA funders) plus the merchant-processor statement; payoff letters are requested from each on day one so the consolidating facility can be sized off them, not off the merchant-identifier read.
Day 1
Day 1 – 3
Payoff letters + processor reconciliations
Payoff letters return by day six. Processor reconciliations show ~$140k/quarter card volume on the trailing-six, August trough at ~$95k, Q1 peak at ~$180k — the desk sizes the new facility against the trough, not the peak. Position A senior UCC-1 is the gating read: a composite-remit file requires reconciling the existing lockbox before the new ticket is sized.
Day 4
Day 4 – 10
New term sheet drafted + signed
A 17% / 30-month facility on $155k of the stacked balances, paired with a 9% / 60-month specialty-band ticket on the $85k RF / microneedling upgrade — two parallel tickets on one coordinated file. Combined monthly runs ~$5,640 vs. the ~$9,150/mo ACH drain today. Owner has a short window to compare against /merchant-cash-advance and against /sba-504 before signing.
Day 11
Day 11 – 18
Funding + payoff wires + equipment wiring
The new facility funds; three wires go out to Position A, B, and C in a single batch. Senior UCC-1 on Position A is terminated-on-funding; junior UCC-1s on B and C are discharged within ten business days. Equipment vendor invoice is paid out of the new ticket the same day; new device ships week 5.
Day 19
Day 19 – 30
Close + first consolidated remittance
A single merchant remittance on the consolidated facility, single UCC-1, single ACH. Old ~$9,150/mo ACH drain replaced by ~$5,640/mo amortized payment — one monthly bill instead of three, one UCC stack instead of three. Equipment upgrade in install-and-training week 6; book value on the new RF platform writes against the equipment ticket at the agreed commercial-depreciation schedule.
Day 38
Day 38
Net — a 30-day stand-alone refi plus a 6-week stand-alone equipment upgrade would not have closed together. Read as one coordinated file, both tickets fund against the same intake window. The same 38-day read applies to a non-rolling refi with a parallel ticket on the equipment upgrade side — at the same merchant processor, on the same merchant identifier, with the same UCC-discharge track running underneath both closings.
Apply based on this case study
Walk the file to the desk.
Tell us the clinic, the stack, and the device class. The intake carries a prefilled “Read the case study on /case-study — ” notes field on the Review step so the underwriting desk reads the case-study routing up front — no need to repeat the context on a follow-up call. One business day to a routing read against the parallel-ticket structure above.
On the Review step of /apply: the notes textarea ships prefilled with “Read the case study on /case-study — ”. Edit freely; the desk reads whatever is in the field at submission.
Independent vertical-credit desk · MedGuild Capitalis not a lender. The owner profile, stack mechanics, structure proposed, term-sheet math, and 38-day timeline above are illustrative of one anonymized deal file from the desk's recent history — not an offer to fund, not a comment on any applicant's specific file, and not a guarantee of term-sheet outcomes from any consolidating or equipment-lender partner. Actual term sheets come back inside one business day of the intake, sized against the clinic, the modality, the service mix, and the owner's books.